Twist in Time
by keijo156
Summary: After months of denying her feelings and trying to justify why it wouldn't work between them, Lily finally acknowledges there is something drawing her to James. For his part, he's all but given up hope and believes that there is nothing else he can do to convince her. As desperation sets in, can she find and tell him how she feels before he does something drastic? TWOSHOT
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is my first fanfiction. Just a one shot of an idea I had for a larger story. Criticisms are welcome as long as they are constructive in nature. DISCLAIMER: I don't own any published Harry Potter content.

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Now Lily was certain that James was avoiding her. She almost never saw him despite looking for him everywhere during her spare time. She even cornered Sirius and Remus and tried to convince them to talk to James and get him to let her explain everything. She did everything short of actually hexing them, though she did seriously consider putting one of them under the Imperius Curse briefly. Her nerves were constantly on edge. Marlene and Alice tried to help as much as they could, but it seemed like James had vanished completely. All too soon, the end of term feast arrived. Lily woke late and anxiously ran towards the doors of the Great Hall hoping that she could find James before he entered so she could tell him what she had finally figured out. She loved him and she was no longer afraid or ashamed to admit it. She stopped at the entrance and scanned the room. The hall was packed with every student wanting to attend the final feast and eager to hear which house had won the House Cup. Slytherin had been on top lately, but with the recent Quidditch Cup win by Gryffindor, the points were so close it was hard to tell. Dumbledore always liked to give out some last minute points and that could tip the scales in any direction. A lump formed in Lily's stomach as she spotted the Marauders, but noticed James wasn't with them. She vaguely heard Dumbledore talking and when she paid attention, she realized that he was finishing up his end of term speech.

"And now, if I'm not mistaken, I believe our departing Head Boy would like to say a few words." He announced. Lily's eyes snapped up to the staff table, but she didn't see James there either.

"Excuse me, Evans." a familiar voice said behind her. She spun and her pulse quickened, first from nervousness and elation that he had actually spoken to her, but an icy dread filled her stomach as she registered that he called her by her last name. _ He hasn't called me that in a long time._ She thought. As his hazel eyes met her emerald ones with a cold hollow look, the feeling increased. "I… I need to talk to…" she started to say, but was cut off as James walked around her and ignored her completely. She watched as he strode up to the staff table, pausing only slightly at the spot where the Marauders sat to exchange a sad sort of look with them and a back slapping hug with Sirius. _Oh this can't be good…_ Lily thought.

James shook hands with each professor, accepted a hug from Professor McGonagall, and a handshake from Professor Dumbledore before he cleared his throat and pointing his wand at his neck, enhanced his voice with the Sonorus Charm.

"Good Morning to you all" he started. "I'm very happy that we have all gotten through this year with relative ease and good health."

At this, he pointedly looked over at the Slytherin table which caused a large round of sniggering.

Once it had died down he continued.

"I'm am proud to say that I served as your Head Boy without much mischief"

More sniggering.

"And I'm humbled that Professor Dumbledore gave me the chance to prove myself. But now it is time for us seventh years to move on out from these walls and make something of ourselves."

Several classmates cheered.

"Some of us will move on to become great healers, aurors, or even Daily Prophet writers."

More laughter broke out, but Lily found she couldn't join in as the feeling of dread only increased.

"As you all undoubtedly know, Ms. Evans and I have been embroiled in a long standing feud and I'm sure the professors are glad that they will have some peace and quiet once we leave. Which is why I am standing here before you today."

Lily's breath caught in her throat. She was sure this was it. She looked over at Sirius whose head was hanging so low she could barely make him out. Remus' face was ashen and it looked like he was fighting back tears. Peter looked so resigned he was barely breathing. This was worse than she thought.

"Well I didn't want to do this so melodramatically and had hoped for a quick escape, but you know me; ever the attention seeker. I will not be joining you all on the train ride home tomorrow."

Murmuring could be heard throughout the Great Hall as students talked amongst themselves debating what his words meant.

Talking over the din, James continued, "With Professor Dumbledore's permission, I will be leaving you all now. Certain circumstances have forced me to re-evaluate my life these past few months and I can no longer ignore the obvious choice."

The volume of talking increased and he looked directly at Lily. He had been purposefully avoiding her gaze throughout his speech, but now he looked her dead in the eyes.

"After careful consideration, I have decided to leave the wizarding world."

At this, pandemonium broke out. It seemed all of Gryffindor House let out a cry of surprise and disbelief. About half of the girls started wailing and bemoaning his announcement. Several Slytherins were high fiving each other and giving small hoots of victory. Most looked smug, but none more than Severus. Outwardly, he tried to look unfazed by James Potter leaving magic behind, but inwardly he was bursting with joy. Finally, Lily would be his and this time, Potter wouldn't be in the way to stop him.

It took a full ten seconds for his words to register to Lily, but when she understood what he said, she felt her heart drop into the very bottom of her stomach and her knees began to give way.

Sinking to the floor, she felt hot tears start to gather in the corners of her eyes. She barely heard James' next words.

"I wish you all good luck and the best life can give you." He finished. With that, he took his wand in both hands and with one quick motion, he snapped it in two pieces. A single, short, sharp cry was heard above all the others. Turning to see who it was, everyone was surprised to find it was Lily herself that had uttered it. James felt a twinge of guilt, but shook his head as if to reaffirm his resolve and quickly stepped off the dais walking out of the hall and towards the Headmaster's office. As he passed by Lily, he stopped and looked down at her. A look of shock, disbelief, and sadness was plastered on her face as she looked up.

"Well, you finally get what you wanted." He said in a cold voice, dropping his broken wand in front of her, "I won't ever bother you again. I can't say that it's been fun, Evans."

And with that, he walked off without looking back.

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Author's Note: I hope you all enjoyed this twist that sprang from my mind. Please leave a review.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: I debated posting this chapter simply because I wasn't sure if I wanted to (somewhat) piecemeal this story out. This will probably be the last one before I post the actual story both of these chapters are a part of. However, the last chapter prompted the creation of the story and this chapter was fun to write and research. This scene takes place during the British Falklands War and the events actually occurred (with some artistic license). As always, I don't own any recognizable Harry Potter property. I hope you enjoy.

It had been weeks since the 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment made landfall on the Falkland Islands and James and his squadmates were getting restless. No one had seen action yet and so far all they had done was patrol the perimeter and dig in. _If this is the extent of the campaign, this will suck._ James thought. He had seen commandos heading out on patrol several times and often wondered if they were seeing any action. He felt envious that they were playing a more active role than he was at the moment. Shaking his head, he got back to the task at hand; digging in a foxhole.

"I wonder if they caused that ruckus last night." remarked Cooper. James shrugged as he threw a shovelful of dirt over his shoulder. There had been some gunfire last night which was the reason they were digging right now.

"I don't know." James replied. "They certainly seemed pleased with themselves."

"Well of course they are. They're commandos. They've bloody well earned the right to." Corporal Donahue stated.

"STOW THE GAB!" thundered Sergeant Allister. "I've got orders. We're moving out soon so I want you lads to check your gear. Brass wants us to take an area south of here and has called on us to do it. This work will be taken over by the engineers so grab the tools and let's go. Major Anderson will be briefing us in 40 minutes. Hop to it, lads!"

A flurry of activity began as the men of A Company packed away tools and moved to their assembly area to prep for their mission. Everyone was talking excitedly, eager to meet the Argentines in battle.

David nudged James and asked, "So what do you think will happen?

"I don't know. If the commandos are to judge anything by, these Argentine blokes are going to give us an easy go of things." James replied.

David shook his head. "I doubt that; they're commandos. They make everything look easy."

"True, but the Argentines aren't exactly up to par with us now. I think it'll be easier than you believe it will be."

"I wish I had your confidence." David stated as he walked away towards his bunk. James found his gear and began to check and double check his equipment. After he was satisfied that he was ready, James shouldered his gear, grabbed his rifle, and headed for the assembly area.

The operation was fairly straightforward. Intelligence had pinpointed an Argentine unit assembling in the south and 2 Para was assigned to disrupt and destroy any enemy forces in the area. Reports said that there were minimal forces right now and if they struck within the next 38 hours, it would stop further enemy action in the area. A Company was to advance along the western approach to the town and airfield to secure the route for D Company following them.

As James loaded onto the helicopter, he thought of Sirius, Remus, and Peter. He wondered how they were fairing and what they were doing. He hoped that Remus had gotten a job as he knew it would be tough for the werewolf to keep employment. With all the anti-werewolf sentimentality prevalent in the wizarding world right now, the deck seemed stacked against his friend. He knew Peter had found a job working at the Magical Menagerie and Sirius had a job at Quality Quidditch Supplies so he wasn't too worried about them.

As the helicopter lifted off, James got his mind into his job. He was assigned as the assistant gunner for the platoon's heavy machine gun. In addition to his normal pack, he carried a spare barrel and extra ammo for the crew's gun and, if the gunner should get hit, he would take over firing the gun. They had named their gun "Stuttering Stacy" appropriate to James' mind as he learned to fire her in bursts, the best way to achieve any sort of decent accuracy over distance.

James looked over at David and gave him a thumbs up in return to the nervous smile he got. David had been with James since boot camp. They had been in the same training platoon and had become fast friends. When they found out they were assigned to the same company, both were elated to know at least one person in the company.

The helicopter landed and Sergeant Allister hollered for everyone to get off and form a defensive perimeter. After several minutes, the helos lifted off to pick up their sister company. Two hours later, the entire 2 Para Regiment had formed up and was heading south along parallel routes. A and D Companies to the west and B and C Companies to the east. They moved silently in columns for a several hours before coming to stop and reorganizing the company for the assault. James' platoon would set up position to support the advance with machine gun fire while David's platoon maneuvered against the enemy's position.

Once everyone was in position, the signal was given and the assault element moved forward. Suddenly, the enemy's position opened fire, catching them out in the open on the hillside. Stuttering Stacy immediately started belching fire, her gunner trying to suppress the enemy enough for friendly forces to seek cover in the gorse at the bottom of the hill. James began feeding belts of ammunition to the gunner to keep up the rate of fire, but it seemed like they were having very little impact.

In the early morning light, they saw that the rest of A Company was in the safety of the gorse valley. Sporadic firing occurred from both sides. It continued like this until about mid-day when a small group made their way to the company and was conferring with their commander, Major Anderson.

"Holy Shite! That's the regimental commander!" Corporal Wilson breathed. James watched in fascination and horror as the regimental commander stood up and began to advance with the rest of the company behind him. From their position, the support platoon began to open fire to cover the advance, but suddenly several things happened at once. They watched as their regimental commander fall as if he tripped, but didn't get up, a previously unnoticed anti-aircraft gun opened fire at the advancing company from a different position tearing into their ranks, the subsequent retreat into the safety of their previous position, and listened to the calls on the radio for medics and a confirmation that Lieutenant-Colonel Jones had, in fact, been killed.

Sergeant Allister crawled up to their position and looked at James. "They need a few lads to replace the casualties in the last advance. I'm pulling you, Rogers, Clemens, and Fulton. Leave your pack here, Jones will need the rest of the machine gun ammo, I think. I'm placing you in charge of these three unless you all get split up."

"Yes, sir." James replied. He turned to pull out the extra magazines he packed before heading down the hill with Rogers, Clemens, and Fulton in tow. Moving slowly down into the valley, James kept an eye on the area the AA gun while Clemens watched for movement from the hill. Finally, they made it to the rest of the company. James made his way over to Major Anderson.

"Sir, we're your replacements from the support platoon."

Major Anderson looked up and rubbed his forehead. "Okay, good. Head over to 2nd Platoon. They were hit the hardest."

"Yes, sir." James replied nodding at his ad hoc group to follow him.

Finding 2nd Platoon, James reported to Captain Peters who directed him to Sergeant Rowling. The found Sergeant Rowling who simply nodded and pointed to the rest of the platoon, indicating they should join them. Moving there, James sought out David and laid down behind cover next to him.

"Always knew you'd need my help." James joked.

"Hey, it's not my fault that intel cocked this all up." David retorted. "Besides, who says that I need your help?"

"Well someone certainly thought you did. Otherwise I wouldn't be here. But if you don't think you need my help..." James said as he started to get up.

Pulling James down with a smile, David chuckled, "Alright mate. You made your point, but don't think that this means I'm admitting to anything."

"Alright lads! Command wants us to take this hill, so we're going to take this damn hill!" bellowed Sergeant Rowling.

"PARA!" shouted the boys as they rose and advanced. James prayed that the AA gun would be silent and cursed the fact he broke his wand. He could really use magic right about now. He shook the thought from his head. He was surrounded by muggles and even though he abandoned the magical world, he would not reveal it.

The AA gun opened fire once more tearing through the company, but mercifully, it did not have the same accuracy as before. Still, it was very tough to contend with that and the incoming fire from the enemy positions on the hill. After several long moments, the combined firepower of the enemy positions overwhelmed the advance. Just as they began to retreat again, James saw David fall. A clump of lead settled into his stomach as he ran towards his mate. As he got close, James watched in slow motion as a grenade flew through the air in front of him.

James felt the sting of shrapnel and hissed as he fell, feeling something white hot burn up his arm. Trying to ignore the pain, he began to grab the harness on his mate to pull him to safety, but the pain made the task difficult. James finally got him under his shoulder and hoisted him up. Pivoting, he made a dash for the relative safety of the gorse valley where his squad was. Breathing hard, he felt a nudge from behind and prayed that David hadn't taken another round. Bullets were kicking up dirt all around him and his squad mates were yelling at him to get down and find cover, yelling for more covering fire, yelling for the sake of yelling. He was almost at the edge of the riverbed when what felt like a murderously hard punch hit him right in the back by his kidneys, spinning him around as he fell and forcing David off his shoulders. James felt his energy quickly drain from him. James looked down and saw blood spreading from his abdomen. Struggling to get up, his only thought was to pull his buddy to the safety of the riverbed. Exerting what he felt was herculean effort, James grabbed David's gear and began to pull him backwards towards his squad mates. He made it all of two meters before a second round slammed into him, penetrating his chest just above his heart. Before his vision faded to black as he fell backwards, his last conscious thought echoed in his head. _Oh God. Lily…_


End file.
